Ghost Town USA’s

Guide to the Ghost Towns of

HICKORY COUNTY

MISSOURI

 

Hickory County is located in the west-central part of the state, in the 3nd tier of counties east of Kansas, two counties due north of Springfield (Greene Co.).  The county seat is Hermitage.

 

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Dust in the Wind

A Guide to American Ghost Towns?

 

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INTRODUCTION

 

Unless noted otherwise, information on this web page is from original research by Gary B. Speck.  However, much information in these ghost town listings is quoted from postings to the Rootsweb Missouri Ghost Town discussion forum (MO-GT), and that information is indicated as follows.  Specific information and/or personal comments will be appropriately credited with either names or initials, like (MF) {Mike Flannigan}, or (GBS) {Me}. In some cases, I didn’t save the name, so those will be indicated as MO-GT. 

 

If you know of any Missouri ghost town location not listed on these pages, please contact the MO-GT discussion forum, if you are a member.  If you are not a member, please contact me and I’ll pass on the information to the group.  If you are interested in Missouri ghost towns and would like to join the group, let me know and I’ll tell you how to join the forum. 

 

Please note that some minor editing for editorial consistency and spelling WAS made, as well as spelling out of directions (N, SE, NNW, etc), and numbers less than ten.

 

Highways are marked thus...

  • CR – County Roads
  • SH – State Highway
  • USUS Highway
  • IInterstate Highway

 

Locations marked with a $ indicate an admission fee is charged to visit the site.

Unless noted otherwise, all indicated population figures are from the 1990 census. 

GNIS stands for the US Geologic Survey’s Geographic Names Information System. 

 

Many of these listed locations may be just rural post offices, country churches, schools, forts, stage stations, crossroads stores, mills or river fords, rather than what we normally consider towns.  The reason for that is that many of these smaller locations had small communities grow up around the main business. 

 

Memories of the past glory of these one-time active communities still float like dust in the wind over Missouri’s hillsides and prairie.  The winds of time that created these ghosts reach deep into America's Heartland and those gentle zephyrs take those past memories and deposit them in front of you.  Reach out and grab them!  Without further ado, let’s visit some of Missouri’s many hundreds of ghost towns!

 

PLEASE NOTE: 

Where photos are indicated thusly (PHOTO!), please use your browser’s “BACK” button to return to this page.  More photos will be added over time.

 

THE GHOSTS

 

 

SITE NAME

 

POPULATION

1990

U.N.O.

 

DESCRIPTION & LOCATION

BLACK OAK POINT

0

Location not determined.

BLEDSOE

0

Bledsoe was a rural post office in 1867-1868 and located in southern Montgomery Township, three miles north of Wheatland. The post office was kept in Bledsoe Montgomery's house, and named after him.

Dallas Bowling also contributed this information -

Bledsoe is the name that was formerly given to the town of WheatlandDallas Bowling (Apr 10, 2007)

CORNERSVILLE

40 (1880)

Cornersville was a rural post office from 1867-1868 and again 1886-1896. It was located four miles east of Weaubleau in the southwestern part of the county. It was kept in the home of John Gentry.

DEEPWATER

 

Deepwater was a rural post office between 1886 & 1887.

If this really different than the one in Henry Co.?  (Mike Flannigan)

HARAN

DEAD NAME

Haran Missouri was the original name of Weaubleau (1880-1881).

Dallas Bowling (Apr 10, 2007).

(Population 450 or so - GBS).

HEARDS SPRING

 

Heards Spring was located north of Wheatland.  It served as the temporary County Seat from 1845 to 1846. It was located on a farm owned by John Heard.

Used to be the County Seat and now we can't even find it!  (Mike Flannigan)

LONE SPRING

30 (1880)

Located in the southwest part of the county, but the exact map location is not determined.

PACKARD

 

Packard was a rural post office that operated in 1892, 1901, and 1902.

Location and name origin are unidentified.

PLEASANT HILL

 

Pleasant Hill was located in the north edge of Wheatland Township, and was named from its location on a hill.

RANKINS MILL

 

Rankins Mill was a water mill, built on the Pomme de Terre River by Amos Paxton.  It was about six miles below Hermitage and was named for the first owner, on whose land the mill operated.

STAFFORD

 

Stafford was a rural post office in 1899. The name comes originally from a county in England.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORE INFORMATION

 

 

Historians estimate that there may be as many as 50,000 ghost towns scattered across the United States of America. During the next five years, Gary B. Speck Publications will be publishing unique state, regional, and county guides called

The Ghost Town Guru's Guide

to the Ghost Towns of ***

These original guides are designed for anybody interested in

ghost towns. Whether you are a casual tourist looking for a new and different place to visit, or a hard-core ghost town researcher, these guides will be just right for you. With over 30 years of research behind them, they will be a welcome addition to any ghost towner's library.

Thank you, and we'll see you out on the Ghost Town Trail!

 

For more information on the ghost towns of MISSOURI,

contact us at

Ghost Town USA.

 

E-mailers, PLEASE NOTE:

Due to the tremendous amount of viruses, worms and “spam,” out there, I no longer open any e-mails with unsolicited attachments, or messages on the subject lines with “Hey”, “Hi”, “Need help”, “Help Please”, “???”, or blank subject lines, etc.  If you do send an E-mail asking for information, or sharing information, PLEASE indicate the appropriate location AND state name, or other topic on the “subject” line.  THANK YOU!  :o)

IMPORTANT

 

These listings and historical vignettes of ghost towns, near-ghost towns and other historical sites in MISSOURI above are for informational purposes only, and should NOT be construed to grant permission to trespass, metal detect, relic or treasure hunt at any of the listed sites.

 

If the reader of this guide is a metal detector user and plans to use this guide to locate sites for metal detecting or relic hunting, it is the READER'S responsibility to obtain written permission from the legal property owners. Please be advised, that any state or nationally owned sites will probably be off-limits to metal detector use. Also be aware of any federal, state or local laws restricting the same.

When you are exploring the ghost towns of MISSOURI, please abide by the

 Ghost Towner's Code of Ethics.

 

 

Also visit:

 

Ghost Town USA’s Ghost Towns of Missouri

 
Missouri Ghost Town locations with names beginning:

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | PQ | R | S | T | UV | W | XYZ

 

Detailed information on individual locations:

BLYTHEDALE | Haran | McLellan Spings | Rivermines

 

Listings of related groups of locations

FERRIES | MILLS | RURAL POST OFFICES | WAY STATIONS

 

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Also visit: Ghost Town USA’s

 

Home Page | Site Map | Ghost Town Listings | Photo Gallery | Treasure Legends

CURRENT Ghost Town of the Month | PAST Ghost Towns of the Month

Ghost Towner's Code of Ethics | Publications | Genealogy | License Plate Collecting

 

A few LINKS to outside webpages:

Ghost Towns | Treasure Hunting | License Plate Collecting | Genealogy

 

 

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FIRST POSTED: Nov 17, 2001

LAST UPDATE: Jun 15, 2007

 

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This entire website, and all individual web pages is
copyright © 1998-2010
by Gary B Speck Publications

 

ON THIS PAGE, copyright is not claimed for information quoted from the Missouri Ghost Town discussion group, which is marked as noted in the introduction above.  All other unmarked information falls under Gary B. Speck Publication’s copyright protection.

 

The MO GT DISCUSSION FORUM information is posted as a public service for all “subscribers” to the group and is posted with their permission.  It is not to be used for commercial gain without the express written consent of the individuals who make up this discussion forum.

If you have any questions regarding this disclaimer, please contact me at GHOST TOWN USA

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